Chapter Twenty-One: Head Full of Shadows

Several Months Earlier

"He's getting away!" Proto protested, as Wily pulled him back from making one final shot. It was too late. Mega was already gone through the window, his shots doing nothing but crumbling the wall around it. Stupid flight suit. Just once would his brother accept that he was beat?

"Forget Mega Man," Wily said. As if it's that easy. As if his brother didn't constantly show up at the worst possible times to ruin everything.

Proto pushed his irritation down. If he let this get to him, he'd become just as bad as Wily. Wasn't like his brother wouldn't be back, anyway.

Besides, he had one other sibling to deal with.

Dr. Light and Deacon were already tied and gagged when he approached, Deacon's eyes widening as he took a step back. Proto barely noticed. Deacon was always a pawn in this game, a means to an end. Not worth his attention, not when Roll was struggling against Guts Man and Cut Man as they bound her hands, spitting at him like a snake.

"I always knew you were a rat," she hisses. "We gave you a chance, Proto Man!"

"No you didn't," Proto said cheerfully, taking the gag from Cut Man. "You knew this was coming, sis."

"I'm not your—" Proto ties the gag around her mouth before she can finish, and the look of rage on her face is almost enough to make up for the fact that Mega Man got away.

Almost.

#

It wasn't like he cared, by the way. That Mega got away, that Mega threw the whole 'real brother relationship' in his face and yet never considered that maybe if he really wanted that, Mega had to actually try too.

Proto didn't care at all.

#

"Wily had me plant a chip on you," Proto explained, kneeling as his brother clutched his head. "But I can remove it… if you join forces with me."

"Never," Mega replied, and it was as sharp as any knife, bitter and angry.

"Whatever you say, bro," Proto said casually. Then he formed his blaster, and shot Mega at close range, sending him tumbling into the wall. He meant it as a dismissal, a last word, but Wily caught the way his face twisted, and ruined it.

"Aw, you hurt Proto Man's feelings," he said mockingly. "But not half as much as my bots are going to hurt you."

Proto kept walking. He didn't care. He didn't care.

#

Dinner was a weird affair at the Light household, one Proto couldn't quite believe was real. Dr. Light was the only one eating, of course—no need for fancy, trumped-up robo-food at home, just E-Cans for the rest of them—and Mega and Roll just sat at the table and talked about their day.

Did he take a wrong turn somewhere, and end up in a sitcom?

The conversation, he had to guess, was stilted today, no one used to the big topic of the day actually sitting at the table with them, drinking his energy can slow so that he had an excuse not to engage. Dr. Light tried, once or twice, but he gave one word answers, his discomfort clear.

Dr. Light was eating a salad. For dinner. If he made anything without meat for Wily, the old man would scramble his circuits.

"So there's this band I want to see," Roll said, purposely ignoring him. "They're in town in a few months, and I thought—"

"I'm not going with you if it's a metal band," Mega replied, rolling his eyes.

"It's not just a metal band," Roll said hotly.

Proto smiled behind his can, but Roll caught him out of the corner of his eye, and scowled at him.

"What are you grinning at?"

Ah, an opening. Finally.

"Are you even allowed to listen to bands that use swear words?" he asked, the picture of innocence.

"I would prefer my children listen to music without anything negative in them," Dr. Light said with a slight frown. He was trying to head off a fight, but he was used to defusing things between Roll and Mega.

"So what does that leave you?" Proto asked. "Kidz Bop covers?"

"For your information," Roll snaps. "I listen to real bands, not that kiddy stuff."

"Oh, yeah? Name one."

Roll scowled at him. "What do you know about—"

"He's only trying to rile you up, Roll," Mega said. He sounded tired, and it was enough to make Roll sit back in her seat, eyeing Proto with renewed suspicion.

Game ruined. Proto took another drink from his energy can, trying to hide his annoyance. Would it hurt Mega to let him have his fun, just once?

"So you don't like metal," Proto said, testing. "What do you like?"

Mega actually considered the question, too long. "Jazz," he said evenly.

Proto snorted. "Jazz? That's for geezers."

It was the wrong tactic, trying the same trick again, and Mega's expression closed immediately.

"I'm not doing this. Not with you." Mega drained his can and set it on the table. "I'm going to bed."

"Mega..." Dr. Light tried, but his brother was already halfway up the stairs. "I'm sorry, he's just a little tired."

"Aren't we all?" Roll muttered.

Proto drained his e-can slowly, taking time to fix a pleasant smile on his face. No need to let on that Mega's rejection hurt. No need for Roll to know her little jabs cut just under his skin, festering like splinters. This was his game. Not theirs.

"Bedtime it is," he said lightly.

Neither Roll nor Dr. Light tried to stop him from leaving, though he could tell from the look on Roll's face that she was in for a kinder, gentler version of Wily's lectures. Only this one would be about 'getting along' and 'being nice' and all that crap, even though it was clear this wasn't ever going to work. Not with either of his siblings, and not with Dr. Light either, he knew, no matter how kind the scientist tried to appear.

He wasn't one of them. They would never let him be. They all knew he was a knife, just waiting to be stabbed in their backs.

So why not give it to them?

Now

Proto Man takes a deep, shaky breath before entering the lab, scuffing his boot to let Wily know he's arrived. The doctor turns immediately, irritation on his face. That's normal. What isn't is Shadow Man standing in the corner, arms crossed as he watches the two.

"Where have you been?" Wily demands.

There's a flippant reply to that, one he can almost reach. But he can't grasp it, unable to overcome the twisting, sick feeling that's plagued him ever since he lost his eye. Wily recovered quickly. By the next day, he acted like nothing ever happened, like Proto hadn't been gone for months, like Kalinka Cossack never existed.

Like there's no bomb in Proto's chest. No hastily covered hole in his face.

Proto hadn't been able to do the same. He tried to pretend nothing happened. He tried to ignore that dull throb in his eye socket that came and went. He kept to himself, shaking off any concerned comments from the Robot Masters. It's for their own good. Better to keep them at arms length than to bring them down with him. Some understand. Elec Man only tracks him down to give him updates on Pharaoh Man's condition. Others don't. Guts Man seems mainly confused by it, often needing Cut Man to intervene.

There were some perks. Those in the middle seem much less enthused at his eventual demise. Crystal Man quickly left the room where he entered, the only thing that cheers Proto up, if only a little.

Shadow Man has stayed scarce, back to his usual habits. Proto hasn't seen him again until now. Once, after half-waking from a nightmare, he thinks he felt a hand stroking his hair until he fell asleep again. But the only proof he has that it happened at all when he woke is that someone covered him with a blanket when he was sleeping, another folded and tucked under his head to relieve pressure on his eye socket. It couldn't have been anyone else.

He doesn't know what to think about that. He tries not to.

"Well?" Dr. Wily snaps.

Proto still hasn't come up with a decent reply. "Here?"

It's weak and uncertain, and Wily doesn't like it, his eyes narrowing. Proto holds himself rigid until Wily turns away with a grumble. "Whatever. Come look at what Shadow Man has brought us."

Hiding his reluctance, Proto moves closer to the computer screen, scanning the information on it. Governor Deacon planned to hold a public speech in Central Park. Dr. Cossack would be there to make an announcement about the GAMMA system.

Proto frowns. This has trap written all over it. Was this really the best his brother could do? Did they really think Wily wouldn't see right through it?

He glances at Shadow Man, but the Robot Master only tilts his head toward Wily. Trust Kalinka, Proto thinks. He has to trust Kalinka.

"Dr. Cossack knows you've cracked GAMMA," Proto says, knowing Wily's waiting impatiently on an answer.

"Indeed," Wily says—not pleased, but happier that Proto is playing along. "So why such posturing, hm? It's almost like they want us to show up uninvited."

Proto's supposed to say something to this too—something easy, a let's not disappoint them tossed off with a smirk. But the longer he's this close to Wily, the more his throat closes up, the sharper the pain in his eye socket gets. He clenches a fist to keep it from shaking, holding it carefully out of Wily's sight.

He knows what this is. He can no longer keep it at bay by not giving it a name, by pretending he's immune. It was just a small thing before, a thorn scratching in his throat that he could ignore. Wily put it there himself, a dark warning before he played turncoat. Don't trust the Lights, my boy. They might welcome you with open arms, but they won't truly accept you until you're just like them. What's to stop them from tweaking that programming of yours, just to be sure, hm?

Proto had laughed it off. Like he laughed everything off. But the thorn remained, pricking every time Dr. Light came a little too close, every time Mega Man saw through right through his act. All the doubtful looks Roll shot him when she thought he wasn't looking, even the way that dumb mutt Rush stared at him with confusion. They didn't want him there. They never did.

He thought he had gotten over it. He thought if he ignored it, it would go away. But now it's a full-grown vine, wrapped tight around his throat, choking him. He had been afraid of the wrong thing. Afraid of the wrong person.

"Proto Man!"

He does flinch this time, his hand moving to protect his face, to cover his good eye, before he realizes what he's doing and drops it. It's too late. Wily is staring at him, expression odd, about to twist mean at any second. Proto's gaze shifts toward Shadow Man, but the Robot Master is shaking his head slightly.

Focus. He has to focus.

"Go prepare the Robot Masters," Wily says. It's not what Proto expected him to say and from the look on Wily's face, it's not what he expected to say either.

"Yes, Dr. Wily," he says, automatically moving toward the door. He slows, though, careful not to glance back at Shadow Man. He's broken, sure, something deep within him shattered, probably for good. But he can still do this. He has to do this.

"When is the big event?" he asks, keeping his voice even.

Wily glances up at him, surprised he's still there. "Three days."

"And Dr. Cossack will be there," Proto says. "With Deacon."

"Ja," Wily replies, irritated again.

Careful, he has to be careful. The old him could do this without a second thought. The new him needs a lot of work.

"Pharaoh Man wasn't destroyed, right?" he asks. Too casual. He overdid it.

Wily doesn't catch it. His eyes light up with an evil glint. "He wasn't," he says thoughtfully. "What are you suggesting?"

Proto can do this. For Kalinka, if nothing else.

"Payback, doc," he replies. "Payback."